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Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today deplored the “expansionist” tendency among some countries
which “encroach” upon seas of others, in oblique comments against China which
is having a maritime dispute with Japan.

“The whole world accepts that
the 21st century will belong to Asia. But I have a question. How should the
21st century be? We have to give an answer to this. It will depend on how deep
and progressive our relationship (between India and Japan) is,” he said
addressing business leaders of India and Japan here.

“We have to decide if we want
to have ‘vikas vaad’ (development) or ‘vistar vaad’ (expansionism) which leads
to disintegration. Those who follow the path of Buddha and have faith on ‘vikas
vaad’, they develop. But we see, those having ideas of the 18th century, engage
in encroachments and enter seas (of others),” he said.

He did not name any country
but the comments may be seen as targeting China which is engaged in territorial
disputes with a number of its neighbours, including India, Japan and some
others, including Vietnam.

India and China share over
4,000-km of Line of Actual Control. China claims approximately 90,000 sq km of
territory in Arunachal Pradesh besides 38,000 sq km in J&K. Also, relations
between Japan and China have been tense over island disputes in the East China
Sea and exploitation of undersea gas deposits in the area.

China claims 90 per cent of
the South China Sea, believed to contain oil and gas deposits. Brunei,
Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the
sea.

Modi underlined the need for
closer and deeper cooperation between India and Japan to champion the cause of
global “vikas vaad instead of vistar vaad”. He underlined that India and Japan
should work for promotion of peace and progress to address the needs of the
humanity.

“India and Japan have a big
responsibility. It is the responsibility of not only the governments and
leaders but also of the businesses to see which way the world goes.” — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140902/nation.htm#4

Japanese seaplane
to add muscle to Indian Navy

Tokyo agrees to
transfer US-2 amphibian aircraft technology

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
September 1

India’s military
ability at sea will get a boost as Japan has agreed to transfer technology for
a specialised seaplane, US-2, produced by ShinMaywa Industries. This will be
the first military sale for Japan since its self-imposed embargo on sale of
weapons and military equipment after the World War-II (1939 to 1945).

Before 1945, Japan
had been formidable maritime force and even operated small aircraft carriers in
1930s.

A joint statement
issued today in Tokyo after a summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid out the roadmap for the
induction of specialised Japan-produced four-engine seaplanes into the Indian
Navy. It will change the way Indian forces respond to threats along the
country’s 7,516-km-long coastline or to challenges in the remote island
territories.

New Delhi and
Tokyo have directed a joint working group to accelerate progress and make
preparations for a roadmap for the development of the Indian aircraft industry.
For this, the joint statement mentions the US-2 amphibian aircraft, including
“the transfer of the aircraft and its technology to India”.

ShinMaywa’s plane
has numerous roles and missions that it can accomplish, making it a force
multiplier and game changer in the Indian Ocean. For one, it will allow
dropping of troops at places where there is no landing strip on shore. At
present, ground troops of the Indian Army uses a specialised warship termed as
the landing ship tank for the purpose. The plane will make the troop insertion
faster and provide a more direct approach to troops during short operation.

Uniquely, the
US-2, is the only aircraft in the world that operates at wind speed of 30 to 38
km per hour on the high seas as well as on rivers and lakes. It can carry
around 70 personnel and 18 tonnes of load and has the longest endurance in the
air with the shortest take-off and landing distance in its class (only 300m).

The aircraft is
only amphibious aircraft to operate at very low speeds and consequently reduces
the take-off/landing run of the aircraft.

The Indian Navy
sees this as an ideal platform to carry out long-range logistics support role,
island support operations, casualty evacuation, humanitarian assistance and
disaster relief, long-range surveillance and reconnaissance carried out by the
Indian coast Guard and the Navy.

At the summit
today, the Indian side expressed its intention to strengthen defence equipment
and technology cooperation and conveyed its interests in this regard. Both
sides decided to discuss further to identify future areas of cooperation.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140902/nation.htm#11

Tejinder Singh
sent to jail

Lt Gen Tejinder
Singh (retd) was today sent to jail by a Delhi court which denied him bail in a
case of alleged bribe offer to then Army chief Gen VK Singh for clearing Tatra
vehicles file, saying no “mercy” should be shown only because he was not
arrested during the probe. Special CBI Judge Madhu Jain dismissed the bail plea
filed by 64-year-old Tejinder Singh, who appeared before the court in pursuance
to the summons issued to him, observing that law of land should be equal for
all.

“The law of land should be
equal for all and if a person, who commits a theft of Rs 1,000 is sent to the
jail under the provisions of law without any mercy, then a person who was
holding the rank of Lt General in the Indian Army and who retired from this
post and offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore to the then Army chief should not be
shown any mercy by the court merely for the reason that the CBI did not arrest
him during the investigation,” the judge said.

As soon as the order was
pronounced around 2.20 pm, the judge ordered that Tejinder be taken into
custody after which the CBI officers present there arrested him and took him to
the lockup on the court premises. He was remanded to judicial custody till
October 20.

The judge, in her two-page
order, also referred to the recorded proceedings of Parliament where the then
Defence Minister AK Antony had raised this issue.

“Not only there is statement
of then General VK Singh (retd), but also there are recorded proceedings of
Parliament where this issue was raised. Hence, no ground for bail to applicant
Lt Gen Tejinder Singh (retd). His application is dismissed,” the judge said and
fixed the matter for arguments on framing of charges on October 20.

The CBI had filed a
chargesheet against Tejinder alleging that he had offered a bribe of Rs 14
crore to then chief of the Army staff VK Singh for clearing file pertaining to
procurement of 1,676 heavy mobility Tatra vehicles.

The court had taken cognisance
of the CBI’s chargesheet on August 28 after relying upon the statements of AK
Antony, VK Singh and other witnesses whose testimonies were recorded by the
agency during the probe.

During the day, Tejinder
appeared before the court and moved a bail plea arguing that he was not
arrested by the CBI and he had fully co-operated during the probe. His lawyer
told the court that there was no apprehension of tampering of evidence in the
case and Tejinder was falsely implicated due to political pressure.

Countering the submissions of
the defence counsel, CBI’s senior prosecutor VK Sharma said while granting
bail, the court should look into the nature and seriousness of the offence and
the alleged offer of Rs 14 crore bribe to the then chief of Army staff was not
a small offence. Sharma said no leniency should be shown to the accused as he
was holding one of the senior-most positions in the Army. — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140902/nation.htm#17

Lt Gen Menon is Chief of Staff Western Command

Tribune News
Service

Chandigarh,
September 1

Lt Gen Venugopal
Menon from the Corps of Engineers has been appointed as the Chief of Staff,
Western Command, Chandimandir. He will take over tomorrow from Lt Gen TS Gill
who has retired after nearly 39 years of service.

On demitting
office, Lt Gen Gill, along with Lt Gen Memon, laid a wreath at the Veer Smriti
war memorial to pay homage to the martyrs. He was later given a warm send-off
from Command Headquarters by officers and troops.

Lt Gen Gill, who
will be joining the Punjab Government as Chairman, Punjab Public Service
Commission, saw action during Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka in 1988-89 where he
was decorated with Sena Medal for gallantry while commanding a rifle company
from 5 Para. He later commanded the battalion during Operation Orchid in
Nagaland, He has also served as the Commander, 2 Sector Rashtriya Rifles in
South Kashmir and General Officer Commanding, Golden Arrow Division. He is also
a national skydiving champion.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140902/nation.htm#18

With 13 new
battalions, ITBP completes expansion plan

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News
Service

Chandigarh,
September 1

With the raising
of four new battalions this year, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBPF)
has completed its expansion and restructuring programme that had started three
years ago.

As part of its
first major expansion and restructuring exercise since 1978, the ITBF was
accorded sanction to raise 13 new battalions to meet operational requirements
of guarding the 3,488 km of international border with China. As many as 35 new
border outposts were also sanctioned.

The ITBP’s total
strength is now close to 90,000 troops, sources said. An ITBP battalion
comprises 22 officers and 1,355 men. Four battalions were raised last year and
five were raised a year before that.

The restructuring
also involved converting 20 existing battalions from four- company format to
six-company format and increasing the establishment strength of Headquarters at
the Directorate General, Frontier and Sector level, augmenting the ITBP’s
intelligence and logistic arms and providing medical and pioneer specialists at
border outposts.

Consequently, to
cater to the command and control mechanism of additional strength, one Frontier
Headquarters, three Sector Headquarters seven specialised training centers and
three recruit training centres were formed. This resulted in the creation of
four new posts at the level of inspector general (IG), nine more posts of
deputy inspector general (DIG) and 17 additional vacancies at the level of
commandant.

Breaking almost
three decade long jinx, prime minister Narendra Modi led NDA government is
providing first artillery guns to the army after Swedish artillery guns Bofors
deal mired with the corruption scandal in 1986.

On Friday, defence
minister Arun Jaitley cleared the proposal of 40 self-propelled artillery guns,
worth Rs820 crore. Jaitely, who headed the Defence Acquisition Council,
accepted the Indian army's long pending demand of artillery guns. This gun
system, termed a "catapult", consists of a 130-millimetre gun mounted
on a Arjun tank chassis, allowing it to keep up with tank columns and provide
them fire support in battle.

According to the
defence ministry officials, The Arjun Catapult is a self-propelled gun (SPG),
recently developed in India by the Chennai based central vehicle Research and
Development of DRDO to meet Indian Army requirements.

"Catapult is
mainly used to engage in indirect fire. Its typical targets are enemy artillery
unit, tanks, troops at their concentration areas, permanent defensive
installations and other field fortifications,"said a defence ministry
official.

An artillery
expert of the Indian army told dna that though these 130 mm guns will not be a
substitute to Bofors or Ultra light Howitzers, but will give a stop gap
arrangement for army's artillery fire power.

"These 130 mm
gun barrel is mainly used to engage in indirect fire up to a maximum range of
27.4 km. It can also be fired directly on targets up to 1.4 km range. It can be
fired at various angles of elevation as well. But, it is surely not a
substitute to high end artillery like howitzers," an officer said.

Sources claimed
that the army's 220 artillery regiments have received no new artillery since
the 1980s, when the FH-77B, 155 mm/39 calibre Bofors gun was bought. Mired with
the allegations of kickbacks, only 400 Bofors guns were delivered and rest of
the contract could not complete. But significantly, Bofors guns played a key
role in Kargil operation in 1999 against Pakistani intruders.

But, the Ordnance
Factory Board's effort to build a 155 mm/45 calibre indigenous gun is facing
trouble after the gun barrel was burst during its trials. And procurement of
145 M777 Ultra Light Howitzers guns has not moved towards its conclusive end.

The case for
procurement of Ultra-Light Howitzer (ULH) guns through US Government has not
progressed due to cost issues and because the vendor's proposal is not fully
compliant to the offset requirements, defence ministry claims. Deal to buy M777
guns with US government is under Foreign Military Sales (FMS) with New Delhi.